On a Bigger Scale
by Krackaroo21
Summary: The fight with Cala Maria! Except this time she pulls a nasty trick and nearly drowns Mugman, keeping him hostage and awaits for a fair fight. Now Cuphead has to find a way to get there, save Mug, and get her contract all in one trip. But what if Mugman finds a friendly person under the Mermaid's scales? I don't own Cuphead, but this story and Henry.
1. (1) A Nasty Turn

**Hello! I'm back from marching band and procrastinating!** **This fic took longer than expected, but I think I have improved from my last fics (I look back at them and cringe).** B **ut, to the newborn fandom, I'm writing a long (ish) fic dedicated for growth of fandom and fulfillment.** Follow **me for upcoming one-shots very** soon! **Like and review!** **Hope you enjoy!**

 **Big thanks to my bestest of friends for the cover! My friend did a smashing job!**

 **\--E--**

Waves and boulders race under their aeroplanes. Bullets reflect off the water. Cuphead angles his plane's nose around Cala Maria's attack and fires rows of bullets. For this plane battle, him and Mugman have to stay on their toes, minding the spike balls or pellets, and take the Mermaid down.

The breeze is a salty sweet. The ocean glistens aquamarine. Fighting Cala Maria should be cake. But--Cup looks back at Mug-- Mugman keeps misfiring at his propeller. It's been happening since their first attempt. He's already roughed up and doesn't need more shots through his wings.

"Pal, I'm on your side, y'know."

"Sorry!" Mug fumbles with his controls and moves to his three o'clock, keeping the oncoming eels at bay. These eels move in close. The second phase starts. Yet, unlike last time they fought her, the eels don't bite her hips and she never becomes a medusa. She grins, white teeth like the seafoam below, and orders them to fight.

She laughs, "You cups are dirty dishes! Trying to swipe my contract... If you were really good sports, you'd fight me without your fancy flying machines!"

Cuphead snorts and shoots down three eels, "Like we'd waste time with that. Right, Muggy?"

"Sure, but," Mug takes a sip off his straw--a habit he's has, thirsty or not, "do we really have to fight her?"

"Say again?"

Mug puts his straw back. "I dunno if we should just be fighting right now. What if we shouldn't?"

"She's trying to kill us!" Cup frowns, seeing CM giggle at them, "she's a debtor and we needa get her, right?"

"Right, but what if--?"

Electric bolts fly pass, skimming the sides of their planes in a fuzzy crackle.

"We already talked about this-- for now let's save our necks and fight back!"

Mug chews his lip, fidgeting, as he looks to CM. A guilty rash growing on his conscience. "But she's awful pretty..."

"I heard that, pal." Cup snickers.

"I-I'm just thinkin' aloud!"

"You do that a lot."

For Cup's birthday, it's easy to uncover gifts. He can swipe toy store receipts from Elder Kettle, and he just follows Mugman when he's walking in the forest. Thinking out loud for the birds to hear. ("Hm, should I get 'im a fire truck or a police car? ...Fire truck it is!").

Once Mugman got his actions in order, bullets spray at the Mermaid, but she has enough.

"Oh, you land-dwellers are all the same." Cala Maria pouts, "Coming to disturb my sea and pouch my tail."

"No hard feelings, doll-face." Cuphead shrugs, "Just needa get through this place and get the heck out."

"Not without a fair fight. I'm a fish with standards." She curls her lips and zooms forward, eyes growing to the size of windows.

The breeze turns sour as her eels reach out of the waves and gnash their teeth, almost tall enough to nip a wheel. CM swings a fist around to knock them down. The brothers cringe and jerk in tight places. Engines wheeze at the hustle.

"Ow!" Mugman chips his head on a incoming electric bolt. More come.

The air thickens with them. It's impossible to dodge each one. Their health goes down as the attack continues. Soon, inevitably, they'll both die, have to fly to heaven, wait, then try again once their bodies are restored. A long process. But they cannot afford to waste anymore time fighting the Mermaid.

Spilt oil and eel slime engulf the air. Cala Maria swats them, getting Cup's wing to bend, cripple, and lose balance.

"Mug, uh, maybe we should take a landin' soon." He says, not liking the taste of a retreat. "Let's fly away and come back la--."

But Mugman is not at his 3 o'clock.

Frantic, he checks all of his o'clocks until he sees a pair of leather shoes and porcelain knees poke out of Cala Maria's lavender hands. Eel teeth shred Mugs' plane into metal curls. She shrieks with laughter at Cup's twisting face.

"If you really want my contract, you devil follower, then you'll have to track me down without your flying machines. I'll be waiting!" She dances, descending down into the water as her eels rise. The henchmen smile electric webs and gang up on the Cup.

Mugman cries just before the Mermaid's hands submerge. Bubbles.

Cuphead has sparks in his eyes, "I'll save ya, Mugsy! She won't get away with this!"

But, with the eels shooting him down, it doesn't take long for his plane to ram into the coastline.


	2. (2) Stranded

Milk steeps into the boulder top, dripping off the rock's edge towards the crashing waves fifty-feet below. Cuphead, who's sprawled across this skyscraper boulder, nearly loses his head when he saw his height up. If he didn't catch it in time, it would have rolled off and shatter with the seafoam; shards would be sprinkled on the tide pools below.

"Holy crab apples!" He can hear the waves crash below, but he won't even try to peek over the edge. It might give out on him and tumble down, or the spilt milk will make his pants slippery and he'll slide off. Not going to risk it.

His plane, amazingly, even in its condition, manages to stay on top with him. Even if its side mirrors are spiderwebs, wheels popped, propellers mauled, and paint wrinkled. The aircraft is still in one piece. After that attack, still in one piece.

"Gosh," Cup rubs his head's rim, "that woulda gotten real ugly."

He means uglier. He finds on his rim a few chips and scratches, and one crack running halfway to his cheek. The crash should have broken him entirely, then his would spirit fly away. Yet he survives this time, leaving him to meditate with the salt buzzing in his lungs. Taking in the other seagull-infested boulders.

Silence reminds Cuphead about his brother, who would've said something about how high up they are, but he's away sinking. Cup remembers and panics.

He jumps up. Distressed. Forgetting the distance of the boulder's top and the shoreline below, he looks over the edge.

"If he has even a bruise on 'im..." He huffs to himself, "then that mermaid gets it!"

So what if she's a girl? A pretty one? Even if Elder Kettle has taught them to never hit a girl, which Mugman follows without question, Cuphead arms himself with valid excuses. The same excuses he used to fight Hilda and the Baroness.

He pulls up his pants--a habit he has. He flicks his nose with his thumb, preparing for a nasty brawl, even if there's no one to throw a punch at yet. Anger pokes at him to get rash. Rash enough to even surprise himself.

"He better not be hurt..."

Scooting over to the plane, inches from the edge, Cuphead salvages some rope and a pickaxe from the emergency box. Emergency is appropriate. Mugman could be struggle to keep his nose above water right now. Or maybe not anymore. How long was he out for?

It's not the water that ultimately scares him, but remembering that Mugman can't swim that does. He never could swim, not ever, so he always had to watch Cuphead swim laps in the lake. How frightened he must be right now. Cup has to hurry.

He arms himself with the pickaxe.

Seagulls spectate as the Cup hacks into the rock top. Rock pieces jumping at every swing. Metal on stone.

This will take a while.


	3. (3) Super Reef

Next to an island on its coast is a volcano.

This volcano, no longer drooling lava, stands high above most red wood trees. It's a beanpole. Its base wet with waves and crowded with Cala Maria's henchmen, who patrol the shoreline and block the underwater entrance from invaders. That's what they were told. Don't let any cups swim in or out the cave.

The interior holds a thousand-foot deep pool, reaching the bottom of the sea. A reef thrives on its walls. A perfect utopia for reef life. So perfect the entire reef grows thrice bigger than most cave reefs. A single lobster can feed three more people than a normal lobster. Sea anemones bigger than tree stumps. Clam pearls are basketballs.

On the top half of the cave, air from the volcano's top circles in, bringing seagulls in to snack on the super-sized reef fish. The tides change all the time, so catching crabs and seastars on exposed reef is more than easy. But pirate ships. Various birds perch on the pirate ships that fence the cave. All of the vessels are dead, water-logged, fading away, but embellished with forgotten designs.

While birds squawk, Cala Maria swims upright in the cave pool, skimming her fingers through her seaweed patches and tide pools. A frown fixed on her.

"Oh, I leave that mug alone for a minute..." She prys a giant clam--a super-sized one as big as a shack-- to check for her hiding hostage. "Tarder sauce!"

If she loses the reason for Cuphead to come, he won't want to fight the way she wants to, and run off to look for him. Without the brother, how can she lure him here? How can she successfully get her last word?

She continues the search. Watching out of the corner of her eyes. Corner of her thick lashes and algae lids.

Seagulls glide over the reef for more crabs. It's low tide, meaning the mussels and barnacles are drying, the sea anemones are deflating, even seastars wrinkle the volcano hole's sun. The low tide also means Mugman can maneuver through sponges and seashells for the best hiding place. Leaving boot-trails in the cakey sand.

He finds a conch shell, bigger than a picnic table, to shelter behind. He holds his breath. CM's eyes brush over the reef for any movement, finding nothing, and goes back to checking the submerged reef below.

Mug relaxes and collapses from the scurry. He takes his straw to sip on, but turns green and spits it out. He shouldn't be too surprised. After nearly drowning, it'd make sense for his milk to spill and head to fill with seawater. Instead he twiddles his thumbs.

Whenever Cuphead says a curse word--one he's picked up from Porkrind or Cagney-- Mugman gets flustered about why his brother thinks it's grown-up to do. Elder Kettle tells them not to. He said it marks low self-esteem and short tempers. So why say it? But now, when he hears Cala Maria curse out of frustration ("Oh crabsticks!") he just hates to know what she'll do if he's caught.

"She must be mad at me." He figures. He doesn't want to make her mad when he doesn't even want to fight her in the first place. "Too much of a looker" he mentioned to Cup. Intimidating beauty, he labels. He gets shy around girls like her.

Thinking he's safe, thinking that Cala Maria is far away enough, he coughs. From struggling in water not long ago, he still has seawater sloshing in his stomach. He squeezes his chest to rid the salt in lungs. It stings and exfoliates his throat raw.

Meanwhile, a sudden rise in the tide gets Mugman's shoes wet again. It rises to his chipped, porcelain knees and he looks for a higher spot. Nearly drowning isn't a feeling he wants to bare ever again. The dryer he is, the better.

He inches away from the sponge, then almost gets snatched by Cala Maria.

"Hmph, there you are." She pouts, "You're an awful troublesome cup."

Mugman hurls himself out of her swooping hands, smacking his nose red on the boney coral floor. She tries again. He bolts away. Away towards a tide pool crowded with dark sand and arranged seashells.

"Stop right there! Don't--."

He knocks over a sand dollar stack, a domino effect with the sea snail shells, the rainbow shells, and the sea turtle shells. All the things in the shell garden, except the great white shark skull, topples over. Mug trips over a hermit crab and splashes a sand puddles.

"Aw c'mon," Cala Maria rubs her temple. Silence. Then she clears her throat.

Mugman rubs sand out of his eyes, sand out of his head, and looks up. Now, surprisingly, he's in her hand, facing her sharp eyes, like the Mermaid used a whetstone to make her eyes more piercing. He's petrified.

"Well?"

He doesn't say anything.

Since the high tide rolled in to protect the reef, the seagulls lose interest. They leave while Cala Maria puts the hostage in a nearby pirate ship crow's nest, like putting him in timeout. Then she goes and reorganizes her shell garden. Restacking the sand dollars, the pebbles, and adjusting all the sea turtle shells. Luckily, none broke.

Without the seagulls, the cave grow hollow of sound, like the dead pirate ship Mugman was stranded on. It makes his guilt of shell wrecking grow. Even if she almost drowned him and kidnapped him, he mutters a sorry and says, "I didn't mean to do that."

She looks back at him, but doesn't say anything.

Mugman doesn't like the silence. It feels a lot like the time he and Cuphead broke a window while playing cops and robbers. Elder Kettle gave them the silent treatment during supper since they didn't tell him about it. They decided being grounded would be better than anymore quiet meals.

But what to say to a mermaid?

"Um," Mugman starts, "where'd ya get such big shells from?"

She shushes him.

"I've never seen anything that big before."

She doesn't shush him. "I got 'em from my other reefs, you nosey thing."

Mugman twiddles his thumbs, minding his giant blue nose, and pushes on. "That giant clam over there looks real neat."

Cala Maria puts down a handful of pearls and looks back at Mug with a bent eyebrow. He looks sheepishly away from her searching eyes.

"Why're you asking?"

"Uh..."

"Why's a little mug asking this?"

"I guess I was just wondering. I've never ever seen shells like those before." Mugman keeps talking, "Me and Cuphead go to the shore sometime and collect seashells. The biggest one we've found was bigger than my foot...

"Well, Cuppy found it while swimming. He swims out and I check the shore 'cause I can't swim, and he snorkels for sand dollars to sell to Porkrind and--."

Out of nowhere, Cala Maria faces Mug with her giant eyes. "Did you say you can't swim?"

"Y-yeah, but that's fine. I'm better at jumping--."

"No way," She says, "I've always thought land-dwellers by the shore could always swim."

"Nah, I never could get the hang of it."

"When I lost you, I thought you were going to swim out at any second. But you can't swim? Unheard of!"

Red grows on his cheeks. If he could swim he'd leave and not have to depend on Cuphead for a rescue. (He knows he'll come.)

"How sad! Swimming's one of the best ways to relax and cool off and play with dolphins. If you're going to be here, you'll have to learn. For the sake of safety with the tides."

Mugman looks at the reef, the high tide melting away. Swimming, or attempting to swim, doesn't sound appealing after a near-drowning experience.

"Like it or not, I'm doing you a favor." She says and scoops Mugman up for a swimming lesson.

"B-but I'm not good! I've tried!"

"If you said your evil brother can, you can."

"He's not evil!"

The Mermaid finds a tide pool, fit to be a public pool with a shallow and deep end. She puts Mugman in, getting his knees wet again.

"Okay," She starts, a new rhythm in in her voice, "when swimming, have your body parallel to the water, kick your tail--I mean legs, and keep the abs firm."

Mugman doesn't move.

"Oh c'mon, I knew fat pirates that swam like pros. Just try it."

"But what If I drown? It was really scary when you..."

Cala Maria walks her fingers in the tide pool. She pushes Mugman into deeper water. "You won't drown with me as the lifeguard."

"No, wait!" Mugman drags his feet, which clouds blossom underneath, "I really have tried before! I can't!"

He struggles to get around her hand. He clings onto her finger in a frenzy to never touch water again.

"That's cute, but also kinda pathetic." CM half-smiles, "But you have to do it! You will learn to swim! I will help you, even if you're a hostage, pitiful land-dweller!"

He whines and really, truly, undoubtedly wishes Cuphead would show up and help.


	4. (4) Repelling

The seagulls come back after dinner. They perch on the other boulders and eye the Cup's pickaxe swinging. Things grow interesting as Cuphead finally wedges the pickaxe in the rock. It seems no body builder could ever pull it out with how stiff it is.

He ties the rope to the handle, gingerly repelling himself down the boulder. It's fool proof. He just hopes the rope is long enough to reach the beach, and hopes Mugman isn't in immediate danger. Who knows what that mermaid could do.

He stuffs his boots on ledges and makes his way down. Halfway down the rock: hermit crabs. An army of them crawl up the boulder, attracted to the trail of spilt milk at the top. Some pinch at Cuphead's gloves, but he won't let go anytime soon. They're small, but nothing short of annoying.

It wasn't until the seagulls swoop in for a crab snack that Cuphead starts to punch away the wildlife. Their wings and pecking block the ledge-way down. His boots can't find any creases to sit in. He yells for them to leave.

"You better leave, bird-brains!" He says, "I mean it! I got a mermaid to fight and a brother to save."

The strength in his arms, from the jostling and swinging, drain. Hermit crabs disappear and seagulls infest his space. It overwhelmes Cup, but more so the rope. It wears away and snaps.

Cuphead curses something he once heard from Porkrind.

The plummet is like a drop of an elevator, then splashes on the first floor.

(--E--)

 **Thank you so much for reading this fic! Comments and likes are welcomed!** **After I'm done with this fic, I'm moving on to one-shots and other long(ish) stories.** **Have a great day!**


	5. (5) Pearls and Bottles

"Okay, okay, maybe I'm gettin' it after all." Mugman says while blurbing through water. He wiggles through the pool, like thrashing driftwood, and worms his way across the surface. He's invented his own doggie paddle. It gets him across and back around the width of the pool.

The Mermaid approves. "See? You'd get the hang of it."

She leans against the cave wall, playing with her befriended dolphins who came in to hang out, watching the area. Spectating him. She looks more at ease with the atmosphere, more at ease with this mug. At least, to him, she's less stormy.

The Mug wads out the pool and hangs wet socks, gloves, and shoes out on a hairy, green rock. He notices Cala Maria's loose gaze at him. She must not talk with "land-dwellers" too often by the way she inquires him. She's curious. Or is she only the warden to this cave prison? He shrugs, thinking she's alright for a kidnapper.

Dolphins squeak at each other. The small pod pick around for crabs to eat and shells to throw. It looks fun to swim with dolphins, like how Cala mentioned, but Mugman just learned to swim and wants a break. He inches away from the pool, then comes across a pile of orange-peel calms. Surprisingly small ones, not matching the rest of the super-sized ecosystem.

He scoops up an arm full. "Uh, 'scuse me, are you using these for anything?"

He may be a captive, but this reef has hundreds more shells to collect than the naked shore he goes to. It'd be fun to find all the pearls in the clams. But, in his ear, Elder Kettle tells him not be grabby. ("It's a nasty habit both you boys have!").

"You want those?" The Mermaid asks.

"Sure! We don't find too many on the beach. I think I could find a pearl if I'm lucky."

"What would you do with a pearl?" She crosses her arms, "Don't land-dwellers use 'em to make necklaces and such?"

"Yeah, but I don't want one. Don't have enough, y'see. But I could use it for a marble!"

In their neighborhood, it's usual for players to flock around a chalk circle and flick marbles. Mug's decent at it. Perhaps a pearl can be good luck and help win back lost marbles. He tells her about the game's rules.

"Marbles, huh?" She says, "It almost sounds like the game my eels play with sea urchins."

"How does that work?"

She explains, but it's more like bowling-meets-javelins.

"Sounds neat."

"Yeah, we bet with shrimp sometime."

"That's what me and Cuppy do! We bet and win a lot of stuff on good days."

"What do you bet with?"

"Candy mostly, but I got three coins once."

"Is that a lot?"

"Definitely! We got to buy two baker's dozens at the donut shop."

The Mermaid contemplates, crossing her arms. "What would twenty coins be worth?"

"In donuts?"

"Sure."

"I'd say, like, at least fifteen baker's dozen. Enough to host a two parties at once."

"Is that all surface-people use gold coins for?"

"Nah, we get all sorts of things." Mugman uses his fingers to count, "Food, teabags, new spenders, polish, boat rides around the isles, movie tickets, marbles... Flowers? Yeah. You can get anything if you can pay for it, but Pa says not to spend it all in one place."

"Hmm, interesting. I thought everyone made things themselves." She develops an idea, tells the Mug to stay put, and heads out the cave. In less than seconds, she's gone.

Mugman doesn't have a word in what she does, so he waves her off. "Abyssinia!"

Now, at that moment, the cave is all his.

He knows there are eels guarding outside. The electric eels' sparks are obvious under the shadows, like candles in a dark room, so swimming out (even if he can't dive yet) would be useless. Instead he leaves his clams arranged in the tode pool then swims over to the pirate ships.

One pirate ship is a white-washed, golden-laced vessel fit for a Pirate-King. Exploring the cabins was great fun. He even found surviving cutlasses ("ARGH! SHIVER ME TIMBERS!"); they're better than the wooden ones back home. But he finds his objective, writes on it with a dusty quill, and swims back.

The Mermaid wouldn't want her hostage to waltz around her reef. He's surprised, and thankful, how he didn't get caught venturing around the Mermaid's cave. He'd most likely get into trouble, buy doesn't dwell on the consequences as his mischievous takes over.

"Okie-dokie," The Mug says to the 1787 wine bottle in his arms, "this should do." He pours out the wine, slips in some paper, then looks for a fit volunteer.

He wanders around, nearly letting the bottle roll off the edge a few times, then finds the volunteer. He sneaks up on a bird, a husky pelican, who's perched on some coral. Without a fight, or a reaction, Mugman slaps kelp on the bottle and its bird leg.

"'Kay, go and deliver this to Cuphead." Mug says, "He's a little shorter than me and wears red. Can't miss 'im."

The Pelican gurgles and flies off to another part of the reef.

(--E--)

 **Thanks for reading! Leave comments please!**


	6. (6) Crab Bake

Seafoam crackles in his ear. Sunshine and waves glaze over him as he wakes up to a blanket of hermit crabs. Crawling and picking at his shirt. He throws them off, but that's not what alarms him. It is the porcelain fragments washing up on shore that does. That giant fall couldn't be without price. He checks himself. The back of his head has a new chasm. No more handle.

"...It'll-it'll grow back."

It normally does, but only when a chip is small and properly glued back together. For now he collects the shards and stuffs it in his pants. He can fix it later. For now, he sits, contemplating the next task.

He's not near the port. He's on an island with a small forest at its center, making travel tricky. And although Inkwell isles isn't enormous, it's unlikely to swim out, look for the Mermaid, save Mugs, then collect the rest of the contracts before midnight. It's impossible. It's just what Cala Maria wants, he frowns. If he had his plane, of course, he'd do it all with time to spare.

He steams to himself, breeding a rage in his throat, despising the Mermaid's taunting in his ear, and thinks harder.

Picture this. He does swim back to civilization and asks for a rental boat. Too expensive. Asks for help from Porkrind. He'd say he's too busy restocking. Elder Kettle? He'd have to suffer through an ear-full before any action.

But doesn't Elder Kettle know a lot of people?

Cuphead remembers. He whistles in a flash, like a burst of a train whistle. Hermit crabs scoot around his feet, collecting shards Cuphead overlooked, and then scurry as a hawk dives in.

Henry is a respectable hawk. Respected for his ownership of his hawk apartments. He's three times taller than Cup, has three times thicker eyebrows than most, and is three times louder than a trombone section. Cuphead only remembers how he's always fixed with a glare whenever Elder Kettle invited him over.

"Oh, it's just you." Henry says, "I thought you were Kettle. Anyway, what's a kid like you doing on an island." He takes a look at him. "Got in a fight or somethin'?"

Cup can't see, but he feels a black eye pulsing.

"That's what I need help with, my friend." He explains the trouble he and Mugman got into with a mermaid. Explaining everything. Planes and contracts and all. "And now I'm here and he could be drowning for all I know."

"Dang, you're in a tight spot, son."

"Yep."

"Why'd ya even dealt with the devil anyway?"

Cuphead dribbles out the reason, tapping his foot faster as time grows.

"Wow, what a gamble. That's why I only throw my dice in Vegas." Henry turns around, stretching his wings to fly away. "Well, Kettle's youngin, you're in deep sludge with that devil. I'll leave ya to it. Abyssinia--."

"No wait!" Cuphead blocks him. "I need help to beat her!"

"I don't do devil's work."

"Help me save Mugs at least!"

The Hawk's eyebrows furrow deeper. "Why should I? I got a family to feed right now. Dinner, y'know."

"C'mon, I'll... I'll."

"What?"

He doesn't have any coins on him.

"I could..."

"I don't have all day, kid."

Neither do I, he groans. Henry flaps his wings, but Cuphead shoves a handful of hermit crabs in his face. "I got crabs I could collect. D'you like crab, Henry?"

"Mr. Hawk please. And I don't care for crab. I'm more of a steak-type-a-guy." He corrects, but studies the offer anyway. "But the wife loves seafood."

That's how Cuphead gets a ride through the sky, searching through mini islands for the Mermaid. But, before the action. he has to pay for it. He had to collect a head-full of crabs, covering the back of his busted head, and deliver it to nest 101 in Henry's Hawk Complex. The wife wore too much perfume, but she and her chicks were more than happy for a crab feast. It took a lot of running and flying, but now they're in the sky.

It's nice to get off his feet. To get off the sand and on a slick hawk-back.

"I know that Cala Maria." Henry says casually, gliding over the sea. "A real broad. She's crafty with her henchmen. Always fighting with fishermen and pirates. Never liked legged-folk."

Cuphead hears him perfectly through the blaring wind, even if he's on his back. Loves the sound of his own voice, he guesses. But how nice it is to taste the saltless air high above. He's had enough of sea salt for a while.

"Alrighty, Mr. Hawk, let's go fight ourselves a mermaid!" He says, absorbing his foolhardy and vigor back, along with a sense of vengeance for Mug.

"Nah, I don't do devil's work, like I said. I've been raised in a God-fearing family. I'm just gonna do Kettle a favor and save one o' his youngins, mind you."

"Whatever floats your boat."

 **Thank you for reading!**


	7. (7) Paul the Pelican

With the bottle on his leg, Paul the pelican grooms himself with his cookie-sheet bill. Mugman watches him, just in case the bird decides to deliver his message after all. But, while he waits, he digs in the sand for hidden calms, for any hermit crabs and sand shrimp to feed Paul, and for treasures. There's a shell that seems to be plated in real bronze, and a second that may be the first ever discovered. He keeps it in his head for safe keeping, although it rattles when he runs across tide pools.

He makes the most of his time by scaring albatrosses and collecting seashells, but it is only a pass-time. Cuphead will be there any minute in his plane, or his message will reach him, and he'll escape. Either way, freedom is guaranteed. For now his head fills halfway with shells and he keeps Paul well fed.

But, at the back of his head, while looking down at the eels outside the entrance, what about the Mermaid? She's not evil after all. Not like a few of the debtors they had to take down. She's like the Root Pack, Beppi the Clown, Wally Warbles. Good-hearted but tied down by the devil, like him and Cup.

But what should he say when Cuphead drops by for the contract?

 **\--E--**

 **Thanks for reading this short one. Stay tuned for a much longer chapter later on. For now have a great day!**


	8. (8) Racing Days

Gliding over ocean, it gets quiet, but Henry tells a story. A story about his younger days as a racer. It's not quiet anymore, just loud, like when the radio is a degree too loud to be comfortable.

"You were one of those hawk-racer guys?"

"Yep. One o' the best in Inkwell. I won a grand prix before." The Hawk says, "My buddies and I thought it was all in good fun 'til we started to get hitched."

"Did'ja win any medals?"

"A box full, yep."

"Gee, that's neat."

"Yep. I tell my kids all the time they can be racers like their pa if they wanted. My lil' girl though, she says she'd rather be a singer, which I thought was fine, just as long as she don't run off with those wussy guitarists. They have no feathers on their chests! I made Stanford, my oldest, help me scare 'em off when they tried to play a song through our windows. Shoulda seen their faces when I pulled out my double-barrel..."

The rambling goes nowhere as they check a few caves. The Mermaid could be anywhere, but most likely a cave, as Henry mentioned. Yet all of the eastern caves are empty.

"Y'know, this is taking longer than I thought, kid." The Hawk says after they checked most of the northern caves. "I'll have to ask for two more buckets of crabs for this."

"I'll get Muggy to do it."

After checking a shady cave, and sitting through more silence, Cup notices Henry grind something in his beak.

"What kinda gum you chewin'?"

"Ain't gum, kid."

"Could I have some?"

"I said it ain't gum."

"It must be good if it's not gum."

"Not quite."


	9. (9) Crowbar Commotion

When Cala Maria came back, she sets a rusted treasure chest before Mugman. "Here we are! What do you think?"

He abandons the pile of orange clams and seashells, then goes to rub age off the chest's lock. "What's this for?" His eyes sprout with a curious thirst for a key.

"I thought that, since you're here, you can open this chest for me and tell me its worth." She props her head on her fist. She's already amused, like her hamster just discovered a new wheel. "It's something my hostage can do for me."

"I've never seen a real pirate chest before... But yeah, I guess I could try it. I'm not busy."

He receives a crowbar, then gets to work. The Mermaid spectates, but arranges more shells into sculptures as her own work. A sea snail-shell statue.

Whenever Elder Kettle asks him and Cuphead to do yard-work, like dumping the compost bin or wheel out a leaf pile, he always says to lift with the legs. The Mug forgets to do that, pulls the bar and plummets backwards. He swore he heard giggling while he was down.

Later on, he decides porcelain slamming on coral isn't a pleasant sound. He would rather have a radio or side-conversations in the background while he works on homework or projects, or in this case chest opening. He looks to Cala Maria.

"What kinda games d'you like to play?"

"Depends on the weather," The Mermaid say, polishing a conch with a sponge, "When it's perfect, I like to hang out with passing whales. We play mumbly peg."

"Cuppy tried that at the casino. Good thing he wore gloves!"

Silence.

"Mug-person?"

"Mugman, but Mugs is fine."

"Mugs, do you like beached water polo?"

"Beached?"

She explains the guidelines, but it sounds nothing like polo.

Silence. Waves lick the cave walls.

"So how come so many pirate ships sunk here?"

She drops the great white shark skull at the shell garden's dead center. "Hmm? Oh, these ships were too nice to sink, so I brought them here for decoration. But I haven't been finding much ships recently. I think I scared those brutes off."

Mugman remembers one local pirate, Captain Brineybeard. It is strange to think there were more pirates sailing the isles and filling the docks with peg-legs and giant boots. It must have been smelly, he predicts.

"What happened to them pirates?" He slings the crowbar on his shoulder, pointing towards the shipyard.

"I never liked pirates, you see."

"Oh."

"They attacked when I did, and vise versa. I didn't have any pity for them though. They're always taking my treasure coves and causing pirate wars. Sometimes they'd come and find me and try to slay me. One time I had half a crew for dinner and turned to the rest to stone--my eels help me sometimes. Pirates get so annoying. One time, they--."

"W-wait!" Mugman freezes, "You ate pirates?!"

"Swallowed them whole." She winks.

His arm drops the crowbar. "Hm, well, uh," He doesn't know how to react, "I can't say I've eaten a pirate before, so I guess that's pretty neat."

She laughs.

Now, thinking back from earlier, fighting Cala Maria isn't a risk-free idea, even if there's temporary dying. Death by mermaid teeth is a picture that makes his knees quiver. Would his spirit escape her stomach or dwell with the rest of the pirate?

"...You wouldn't eat a cup, right?"

"No, you're fine."

"Okay, thanks."

Silence.

Cala's mind starts to turn to the future, "Mugs, heads up, but if you're brother really does come and try to beat me, I may."

"But he's a good person."

"Not to me."

"...Well, he thinks you're evil, but not me." Mugman, reluctant, but goes on, "I think you're good too."

Silence.

She smiles to herself. "I was convinced every land-dweller was the same. Always stealing from the sea."

"I stole some shells though." He points out his head and clam pile.

"I mean like over-fishing and stealing treasure. There's nothing wrong with shell collecting." She, out of the blue, swoops him up with both hands, startling him. "But you are just the sweetest thing to ever come from the surface. I can't possibly imagine why you'd be doing the devil's bidding."

He is flattered. "Well, you see, we kinda gambled our souls--well, Cuppy did--and now we hafta get them before midnight or else." He motions to whisper in her ear, "but me and Cuphead cracked a plan to make everything right in the end! Don't worry!"

"Now I see." She boops his nose, "It's not natural for a cutie to be working for the devil."

"Oh shucks..."

"You are just delightful!"

Mugman's face hurts from smiling so hard. Going red. It's awkward standing on her hand, having to face her overwhelming charm. It's almost like the time he and Cuphead got in a challenge to keep a serious face at a basket of puppies. They both lost. And lost their two candy bar bet.

Her eyes sparkle with a ticklish thought. "I'd keep you in a bottle if I had one!"

He doesn't know how he feels about that, but smiles anyway. "You're just dandy."

"Hey, if you can open that treasure chest," She promises, "You can keep whatever's in it."

Mugman's eyes explode. "R-really?!"

"No big deal. I have tons of them."

All the possibilities clutter his mind. The gold coins. He'd buy out the toy store, the bakery, in a heartbeat. He'd give plenty to Elder Kettle and Cuphead. He'd give to his neighbors and then some. Times are a little tough after all, something to do with a depression far away, so gold will be more than accepted.

"Oh boy! That'll be a lot of smackers! Now I can get that fire truck for--."

In less than a flash, a heartbeat, a blink, Mugman's moist hands let the crowbar slip away. It hovers across the coral, then falls down the cave's watery depths. It happened as fast as the treasure chest offer came.

Before Mugman could mourn, the Mermaid picks him up and drops him away on the white pirate ship deck.

"I'm sure there's more of those metal sticks somewhere in this one."

"O-okay, sorry."

She giggles again, "Don't be too excited, alright? It just makes me wanna boop your nose again."

 **\--E--**

 **Thanks for reading! You guys are so cool! Have a happy Thanksgiving! (I'm gonna eat so many potatoes...)**


	10. (10) Showdown

**Hello! How are you?** **If you are interested, I've created a forum for Cuphead topics. Anyone who will like to discuss is welcomed!** **Before anything else, I want to say that I will continue to write Cuphead fics, as well as other large projects for the future. But I also would like to get feedback, that means I would love for more people to read.** **Also, you guys are so cool for supporting this write up. Thanks!** **Also, I was thinking of creating my own signature for my stories. I'll think of something... Maybe by the end of this chapter.** **Speaking of which, this chapter will be, by far, the longest one.** **Enjoy!**

 **\--E--**

"I go to races every now 'n' then. Place a few bets here 'n' there, y'know." Henry says, "But I notice a lot of city slickers not even using their wings! They're using flying machines instead!"

"Aeroplanes? I got one of them, but I gotta fix it first. So then maybe I could race, right?"

"Maybe, but you hafta be at least fifteen, kid."

"But me and Mugs' been fighting a robot and a zeppelin! I think we're qualified."

"No exceptions. It's very strick. I know 'cause I'd try to sneak in a race when I was a little older than you, son."

They fly on.

Judging by the sun, and glancing at Henry's Biffany and Co. leather watch, it's later than Cuphead liked. There's enough time to get the last two contracts, if done flawlessly, which is stiff to work with. And him and Mugman do plan to fight the devil, so it could be tight to make it to bedtime and not meet Kettle's consequences.

"Y'know I'm surprised, kid. I thought finding a fifty-foot mermaid would be easier than this." He looks at the king-sized bed of endless ocean. "Where would ya hide one at?"

"I still think in a cave. There's thousands of 'em we haven't check though."

"I'm startin' to think she's at the bottom of the sea. Couldn't she swim all the way down there?"

This is a logical thought. It's scary to admit that maybe that's right and maybe Mugman is at the bottom too. Probably in a dark sea cave with a small air pocket keeping him alive for now. But again, out of remorse and Mugman's sake, Cuphead will fight her with just a finger gun. No plane. Just how she wanted it. Mugman will help too, so, with his brother's aid, he has nothing stress over it.

"Hey, bucko, what's that?"

They squint their eyes towards the water.

"That's a... thing, I think."

"No %$#-- I mean kiddin'."

"I've heard Porkrind say that one before."

The thing is an eel. It slithers a dark spot under the ocean, like a stain on a table clothe. Then it stands up tall, grinning with comical teeth, then is joined by an army's worth. Sparkling with volts and slime.

The henchmen attack with electric pellets.

Henry throws himself. "Oh $@--."

A bolt strikes his beak, but he pushes on and dodges. The air floods with bolts in little time. Their space for dodging gets tighter.

Cuphead cleaves onto Henry, shooting the eels' glassy eyes, "Henry, you're going too slow! I thought you were a pro racer."

"Use to, and it's Mr. Hawk." He corrects under his gasps. "I just got rust of these wings, kid."

"Whatever, just get me closer to 'em. And be careful 'cause I'm this close to kickin' the bucket."

"No way, you're just a kid--."

"I'm a sentient object, so I get to cheat death like that. But I just can't waste too much time dying, alright?"

They rip through air, like scissors through paper, and thin out the gang of eels. Henry heeded Cup's warning about two hits from death, so he plays it safe. It works, they whack more eels, until a lucky bolt whizzes by and hits Cup's shoulder. It's not too bad, but another one would be the end of it. For now on he has to play ultimate defense.

"Wait a minute," Henry grabs air, "what're they doin'?"

Squinting his eyes, brushing off his dusty shoulder, Cup sees the eels stop firing. "They're not retreating?"

"Yep."

No doubting it, the henchmen swim away, regroup, and head off. They came as quick as they leave, apparently.

"What wusses!" Henry chuckles, "They make those sissy guitarists look manly!"

But the facts don't add up, Cuphead ponders. Why would they just leave? He dusts off the last of his smashed shoulder.

"Hey, uh, Mr. Hawk."

"Hm?"

"I think we should follow 'em. Let's hurry."

"Fine, but then I'm adding the extended search another bucket."

"I'll get Mugs to do it."

Henry spots the island where the eels retreat to. Near it, a volcano sticks out like a city on a dark hill. They glide over, following the trail of eels.

\--E--

"Any luck with the crowbar?" Cala Maria asks through the white pirate ship's open deck. From the outside, she sees Mugman look through barrels and chests, searching for a second crowbar.

"Nah, not yet. If only I didn't drop the first one!"

"That's fine." She beams down at him, "It gives you an excuse to find something else you like while you're at it."

"You're so nice!" He grabs the cutlasses he found earlier, "I can't wait to tell Cuppy about you. That way we won't fight, right?"

"I hope so, but I'm not sure what your brother will do."

"He won't if I tell him the truth."

Her smile wanes once the Mug goes back to searching. Something about a potential fight makes her scales ruffled. Perhaps, she thinks, she does or doesn't want a fight, then what?

Silence, with exception to rolling barrels.

"Hey, Cala?"

"Yeah?"

"What does a coral reef stress about?"

"...What?"

Mug stretches his teeth across his face, "Current events."

"Oh, I see what you did there!"

The cave relaxes into a cozier silence, with more rolling barrels and pirate impressions from the white ship. It gives time for the Mermaid to watch the Mug and seagulls, and think. To think about her shifting motives. Should she fight? Altered desires strike her as she sees the pile of clams, the treasure chest, and the inevitable clash. She chews on the effects.

She remembers what Cuphead has done to her new friend and grows hot in the face at the thought of such carelessness. Gambling a brother's soul like that... It is his fault... but then she remembers her own wrong.

"Mugman?"

He looks up from a barrel.

"Sorry for almost drowning you by the way."

The cave grows awkward.

Mugman looks confused, "Thanks, but I already forgive you."

"You do?"

"I thought you were sorry when you taught me to swim. That way I don't sink again, right?"

"Uh... Yes."

Forgiveness almost seems new to her. She thinks about it more, even if Mugman rambles on about something else. ("I forgive you and Cuphead... But I don't forgive him about the time he got us in trouble for pranking the Bee Queen...")

Her eyes wander around the cave, absorbed, until they land on entering eels. The water fluctuates with sparks. She knows they're here for her so she swims down to meet them. 32 pairs of eel eyes face her, chattering teeth, reporting a tattle.

"So," She says afterward their report, "that Cuphead and a hawk are coming? Hm? What'll I do? Well, I'll improvise. Oh shut up, it'll be just fine--."

"SURPRISE, SEA WITCH!"

The silhouette of a hawk shuts out the sun. It descends down, threateningly circling the cave, like a tiger stalking its prey. It isn't until Cuphead lets his finger blast the water, making a few eels collabs, hitting her dolphin friends, and setting burnt spots on the kelp gardens, that the Mermaid seeks to take action. First, she stacks cargo boxes over the white ship's opening, trapping her hostage in. This will keep him safe and out of the way. She glares up at the intruders.

"Here's the plan," Cuphead says through yelps of his finger, "We find Mugman first--top priority. I dunno what she's done to him. Hopefully nothing too serious. Then we try for that contract."

"I don't do devil's work."

"Fine, just stand by 'til we do it. I got a hunch we might get it this time."

"Don't mess around, mkay--?"

Out of nowhere, Henry yanks himself away from the water's surface, catching a draft to fly up and away from Cala Maria and the eels. She rises up, water fleeing off her, and grins whole-heartly.

"Nice of you to make it so soon. I thought you'd take longer--."

"Quit wastin' time," Cuphead snaps, "Where's Mugs at?"

"Safe, if you're the concerning-type, but I don't think you are." She giggles, "Gamblin' your brother's soul isn't very thoughtful, is it?"

Cup's face turns into a stovetop, eyes shooting lasers. Earlier frustration comes up as vomit, controlling him to take advanced action. He mutters an idea to Henry and they dive down, swooping over the eel-infested water. It gives Cup a window of opportunity for free shots.

More eels die and the dolphins are scared off.

The Mermaid shields herself and swats them away, like she did at the first battle, and lets her remaining eels do the dirty work. Yellow orbs rain down. They fire and Cup fires back.

Henry curses and rolls out of the way. "We're in a real tight spot! This cave is huge, but no good for a proper fight."

Cup yells over the eel snickers, "I know, so be extra extra careful. I dunno if I can take anymore hits."

One shot to the head could shatter him and make him fly away until his body reforms. He doesn't have that luxury of time. Mugman may be in danger, (as if he'll take the word of a brother-swiping fish). He has to get to him, then they can attempt a tug-o-war for the contract.

"Let's take this outside."

"Not yet, we gotta find Mugs first." Cuphead clenches his molders when the turns get sharp. "Besides, I thought you weren't gonna help us."

"I ain't, but this Mermaid's gotten my feathers in knots. Someone's gotta set things straight, y'see?"

Cala Maria rips a nearby ship's mast off, arming herself with it, like it's a baseball bat against possessed baseballs. She's ready. Perched over her shoulder. She calculates the move then hammers the Hawk.

Henry sprawls out of control, throwing Cup off, separating them like a broken plate. One piece falls on the reef. Another crashes through the white ship's side. In a fit of ecstasy, the eels cackle and flock to them. Cala laughs, then tells her eels a new plan.

Cuphead wobbles in and out of consciousness. Shoulders throbbing. He doesn't have a moment to process the ship's whitewashed walls, golden designs, the gash in the wall, or the approaching Mermaid, when a blue ball drifts into view. A face wrinkles.

"Good glory, Cuphead! You look like you got ran over by a train!"

"Mugsy!"

The Mug helps him up, dusting him off. "Brother, you're so badly hurt. I heard a lot of yelling outside, but I couldn't get out for some reason... then you just broke through that wall--," He gasps, "Wh-what happened to your handle?!"

Cup touches the back of his head and remembers. "No time for that--LOOK!"

Whirling around, Mugman gawks at a medusa mermaid creeping up with her gang of eels. ("She wasn't like that before!"). Her snakes wiggle in a unnatural rhythm. Giggling with a forked-tongue. Cala Maria's very being shifted into a breathtaking beast.

She cracks her neck, popping the bubblewrap under her skin. "You can't attack me or my friends without consequence, you naughty cup!"

She attacks first.

On the skin of his teeth, Cuphead leaps to the side, escaping a thrown fist. She uses her other fist and creates a second hole in the wall. More white planks crack. Water floods in. Cup doesn't jump far enough, gets hit, and falls on his face, his already black and blue face.

The eels hiss cheers and approach the ship in a tight circle.

Mugman couldn't process this quick enough. "C-Cala? Why're you...?"

"Nothing against you, my golden goblet," She flashes a lusciously bad grin, "Your brother's just getting prickly with me."

Cuphead prys his face up and sees the scene. "Why're you talking to her!? She'll hurt you!"

Mugman turns away. "Cuppy, you don't understand. She may seem mean, but she's good. I swear. Like, when we didn't wanna fight the Root Pack. We knew they were good, but we had to..."

"She's the one who kidnapped you! Besides, the devil said she's a debtor, so that means she's definitely not innocent."

Mugman is about to sip from his head, but remembers and doesn't. "Look, do we really have to fight? I mean other than the contract... Can't we just borrow it for now or something? I--."

Mugman stops. He feels a foreign touch. Dagger nails and green flesh wrap around him. He doesn't have a moment to blink, or understand why the Mermaid grabbed him, when he's whipped away and out of the boat.

"M-Mugsy!" The brother runs after the retreating arm. "You give him back!"

Cala Maria smiles to herself. Her slitted eyes at ease with the chaos. She's her own picture of stasis. Yet Cuphead cannot understand why Mugman doesn't struggle against her. He definitely seems uncomfortable, but not rebellious.

"Mugsy--?"

"'She's the one who kidnapped you'" She mimics, growing breathless, "You're the one who gave his soul to the devil! You put him in this mess!" She spits acid, "Unacceptable!"

He has no idea how she knows that, but Mug's guilty face brings up a hint.

He shouts, "You're the one who started this! You could've just gave your contract and none o' this would've happened! You give him back, you sea hag!"

"N-no, don't say that!" The Mug bursts, "She's actually good! Sh-she's just mad you shot at her and some of her--."

"Are you taking sides with her?!"

"I-I..." Mug swallows, "She's a friend, Cup. I can't fight her, and I wish you wouldn't either. If you don't fight, then it'll work out, right?"

Cala Maria giggles, but not in her normal, charming way. She clicks her teeth in amusement. "Cuphead, you need to learn to be more understanding, like Mugsy here--."

Cup turns dangerous, "Only I call him that!"

In a flash of energy, of power, of determination, he jumps up and sprints up her arm. Boot heels dig into her unblemished skin. He fires and leaves blacks spots on her arm.

"N-no! Don't hurt her!"

She shrieks and whirls out of control. Her snakes ignite, like a boiling pot of toxic waste, biting at Cup while he pulls their tails. She tries to slap him away.

"Don't hurt him either! That's my brother!"

"You better free 'im or I'll make ya!" Cup yells in her ear, "No one messes with me or him!"

Snakes squirt venom. It stains Cuphead's pants and fills his head (but it leaks). He grimaces, fights, keeps his vigor, and fires at the Mermaid. He forgets about his low health, forgets about lacking time, and throws punches at everything.

"Stop stop stop stop stop!" Mugman swallows boiling frustration. It sits and ferments into hot puddles on his cheeks. A tear. "This isn't right! Just stop!"

Seeing how the two clash, the two superheros, and how they glare at each other, it makes Mugman's mouth shrivel up into a dead sea anemone. And for what? A contract? Pride? Or perhaps something better. But this better, he thinks, isn't worth tearing each other up for. Where did this hatred come from?

"Stop hurting my brother! Stop hurting my friend!"

Doesn't want to choose any side.

Before Cala could turn Cup into dust with only one foul blow, the Hawk swerves into her cheek. A clean nick across her cheek. Blood. In a fury, she thrashes and thrashes and makes the whole cave violent as she throws Cup and the Hawk off. But Mugman doesn't budge.

"Your brother is getting way too dangerous." She says to him, wiping her cheek, "I need you to keep yourself safe, okay?"

Mugman babbles, protests, and begs her to stop all in one sentence. But she puts him away in the shell garden. The shark skull makes a nice, sturdy bunker for him. She leaves him and goes to finish the brother off. All Mug can do now is watch behind rows of teeth, but he would run out to break it up if some eels didn't guard him. He yells for peace.

"How can he call you a brother after what you did?" She growls, the medusa in her taking over and poisoning her heart, "No one should treat my Mugsy that way!"

"Shuddup, sea hag! That's what I call 'im!" Cup shouts over the gang of eels, riding Henry through the cave. You better give him back or else!"

She wipes her cheek again, then sends her eels for a second wave. Within minutes, through finger gunning and electric bullets, the cave becomes its own apocalypse. The attacks crowd the space and keep everyone on their toes (or tails); it all should end with someone taken too much of a beating and giving up. But that will not be me, Cuphead says to himself.

While Mugman yells for them to stop, the two clash, glowering at each other through the bullet waves. Distaste for the other. More eels collabs. Henry dodges Cala's ship mast again. She swings and knocks over a row of pirate ships.

The fighting goes nowhere. Cuphead knows his luck is running out; it's close how the bullets nearly snipe him. Any second he could die and fly away, leaving Mug behind. This he will not allow, so he drives his attention towards the shark skull.

"Henry, we need to split pretty soon or else I could die and we'll hafta start over, so let's get Mugman and get the heck out."

Henry thinks on it, fixed in a dark furrow, "Fine, only 'cause I'm done wastin' time. Hang on."

The shark must have been a massive megalodon. Its eyes vacant, haunting a life of whale-murders. Henry would zoom in at the skull, swipe the Mermaid's hostage, then fly out. It would be that simple, if Cala Maria doesn't have a wall of eels guarding it.

She sneers, "Don't even think about swiping him and dragging him back into a devil-bidding life!"

But, by thoughtlessness, Henry dives anyway. Gravity stretches him, like the taffy puller at Cello's candy shop, into a boggling speed.

From below, through the eels, Mugman doesn't have to see the Hawk cutting through the air to know it will fail. A slap and a squawk, and he knows Henry plummets to the reef with a thud of wet sand. The eels cackle.

The Hawk bolts up and seizes his leg. He cries, "OhmygoshIlandedonitwrongohmylegwhatdidshedoohnoIhatethissomuchwhydidIdothisohthehumanityithurtslucywhere'slucyohIthinkIseealight..."

Picking himself off the tide pools, Cuphead ignores the whining and keeps his hand steady. Navigating through coral terrain and over-sized shells. He blasts at Cala and the eels, who attack without caution, like they found a mouse in their kitchen. He runs.

Behind a sponge, he routes a path to the shark skull without too much eel exposure. It's his only way, through a sand pit full of giant shells, to get to the skull. He looks out, blasts a few eels, sees a Pelican with a bottle attached to its leg, and sprints across sand. A dam breaks; the eels spray bullets in a one-minded sweep.

A lucky shot plows through Cup's knee. He tumbles, gages on sand, then scurries before another shot could take his other knee. He limps and throws himself over the askew jaw.

A second later, Mugman embraces him, "Cuphead! Good gosh, I can't believe she'd do this to ya."

He hugs back, "You know she would."

"No, she said she wouldn't if-if..." The brother swallows, voice hoarse and small from yelling, "I think it's her being a snake-person now. I bet it's that. The real Cala wouldn't attack my brother."

Cuphead doesn't have to say his disagreement. He clutches his crumbling knee and watches the electric bullets fly overhead.

Mugman sits besides him, pulling out a few things from his pants: tape, bandaids, and glue. "This is a bit of a mess, really." He helps patch up cracks and bruises on the brother.

"Y'know, you're a little weird for even befriending a kidnapper."

"Well, you would've done the same if you wore my shoes! ...Or something like that."

"No I wouldn't." Cup crossed his arms and turns away. Old frustration renewing itself. "I'm just glad she didn't bust you or anything. No one messes with me or you--."

"Cuppy," Mug says quietly, fidgeting with tape, "she taught me to swim."

The sentence is so random. Taught you to swim, Cuphead mouths.

"Yeah," Mugman puts the stuff back in his pants, "She said if you could, I could. She kinda forced me, but I can swim now! Sorta but--."

""Wh-what d'you mean she taught you to swim?!" Cuphead feels the rush of an expanding world, "What kinda kidnapper teaches their victims swimming lessons?! You could've escaped too!"

"She thought it'd keep me safer, also so I could swim around the pools over there. But, Cuppy, she trusts me, and I trust you and her."

"This is gettin' real weird..."

Mugman's hypothesis, the one about her goodness, is proven to be theory. Possible. It brings Cuphead to lean against the shark's jaw and collect thought, even if there's eels attacking; he ponders. How? A fish and a cup being friends is almost as odd as a fairy tale. A misplaced tooth scratches into his head.

Anger dribbles out of his finger tips and toes, from boiling to a simmer. The bottled up fire, lighted the moment Mugman was taken, stops rising, meaning it should die out with given time. But, by no means, is the medusa-mermaid trustworthy.

"So you really are friends... I just guessed she tricked you or something."

"We became friends." Mug states, "It also means I can't fight a friend, Cuppy."

A pause.

"But what about the other debtors that we knew?" Cup argues, "A few of 'em are friends and we still got 'em."

"W-well I knew we were gonna plan something to make everything okay in the end. I knew that for sure!"

"But why Cala Maria then?"

Mugman blushes at his twiddling thumbs. More electric shots whiz pass their shelter.

"You're such a softie for girls."

"No, I'm not! You're just rude to them!"

"Hey, that was one time."

"More like five."

Cuphead has a tugging smile, "Look, friend or not, we both just gotta get out of here, mkay?"

"Of course, but," Mug keeps his arms crossed, "I still get to be friends with her, right?"

He rolls his eyes, "Fine, whatever, but now we gotta plan how to get Henry back in the air. He's a little useless right now."

It is embarrassing to see the Hawk in such a state. The fall he took down on the reef is probably only a level 6. Henry, still clutching his foot, rolls across sand turf, knocking over coral in a fit of pain. "owmylegithurtsohmyhowdidthishappenthisistheworsewhatamItodoohithurtssobadohmyIcan'tfeelitnomoreithinkthat'sbadohnooooo..."

"I remember Henry," Mugs says, recalling past visits Elder Kettle arranged with him, "He never shared any gum with me."

"Uh-huh, that's him, now we just gotta get 'im to fly us out."

They plan.

Cup looks up, "Can't you just ask her to stop?"

"...I don't think I can, at least not now. She seems very murder-y."

"Only to me though."

"I don't wanna push it. She's not herself.."

They, huddled together, accumulate a plan and polish it of any drawbacks. Accounting the eels, the Mermaid, and the time. They plan just like they do whenever they pull pranks, help with housework, or plot to get back at nasty fellows. Like when they decided to trick Porkrind into thinking they were representatives of shop regulation (It was the trench coat and mustache that worked for a little bit). Or when Elder Kettle had to bake a few cakes for the library bake sale; they had to help with the frosting and deliver it in a flash (It took a lot of swapping). Getting around eels and Cala Maria should be no different, but how to avoid a bolt through their heads? That's the riddle to this.

The brothers check over the teeth, like looking over a trench in World War One, for any stop of eel attacks. The air grows less salty and more flame-y. The non-stopping electric bullets fry shells and sand. Glassy and burnt spots speckle about. If only the eels would stop, then they could rush over to Henry, help him up, maybe slap sense into him, then fly out.

"What about a distraction?"

"What would it be?"

Cuphead tell him the rough draft of it, "But I'll need ya to shoot some eels for it to work."

"I'm sure I can get away with that." The Mug says to his finger, "I've done it before and she didn't care too much."

"Wait, then why's she so mad at me--."

"'Cause you still gambled our souls away."

Cuphead laughs, "Heh...Sorry."

"I know, but I forgive you, remember?"

Meanwhile, through the chaotic cave, half the eels watch the rolling Hawk, not sure what to make of his complaining. Even Cala Maria isn't sure to ignore, help, or make fun at, but she switches her efforts at the shark skull. She comes in close, accompanied by non-distracted eels.

"Come out without any funny business!"

Mugman peeks over, "Um, wait, I don't think we should distract them. Henry's doing an alright job for a buncha 'em."

"Then can we just run for it?"

"...Then what? Henry's too 'into it'."

With their ride on hold, the Mermaid outside preparing an attack, it seems no tactic could work. This is like the time they had a snowball fight against five sister racoons down the road. It used tactic, but nothing worked effectively. They had to surrender once they got cornered.

"How 'bout we just run 'n' gun it like we've done before?"

Mugman chews on the plan, "I might hit Cala..."

"Just don't then. Hit eels, get to Henry, and we're set."

From the count of three and so on, they jump over the shark jaw and blast eel faces. Cuphead feels porcelain shards dig into his hips as he bolts across the sand. Wobbling over lumps and hills with Mugman by his side. The Mermaid sends her eels to retrieve them.

"Get me both of them!"

The brothers weave around shells and eel bullets, knocking over the sand dollar tower and sea turtle shells like before, but survive and make it to the Hawk. He seems like a loud mime acting to be a mother in labor. Sand tangles with his sleek coat.

"Oh, kid, it's you... and the other kid... I think I broke my leg."

They shoot the eels back, then talk and decide to use a turtle shell as a shield. Safe behind a giant brown and orange shell.

"Mkay," Cup starts, "I think we should help him then get out."

While Mugman wraps his tape roll and bandaids around the hawk legs (both of them because he doesn't know which one is truly injured), Cuphead fires charged shots to keep the eels out of arm's length. Cala Maria can only sneer at them until Mugman gets out of the way, just in case she might hurt him.

"Hm, this doesn't look like a terrible wound, but..." Mugman squints his eyes through the cast of tape, "I think you may have con'smacked a thing I've heard Elder Kettle call hepi'chiebus."

"Oh no... What will I do with that?" Henry mourns, fanning himself like a drunk, "I got a family and an apartment building to watch over..."

"Hepi'chiebus is probably not that bad," Cup says, "Just sleep it off when you get home."

"Oh this is it... I'm outta swing, boys... I'm outta the dark and in the light now..." Henry gurgles before he passes out. His sprained leg twitching and body limp.

Mugman frowns, tossing his empty tape roll away, "What a fake."

"Nevermind that, Mugs, we need him as a getaway 'n' quick!" Cup says, picking up Henry's wings, "Help me move 'im away so we can splash some water on 'im."

They inch away from the shell.

"Not so fast." Cala Maria barks, sending a hand over to grab them. "I think we need to settle some fairness first."

"Run!" They drop Henry. Mugman escapes her lunge, scrambling over to a nearby conch shell for shelter. He catches his breath from such a startling move. "Okay, I think we made it through that... but..."

But Cuphead is not at his 3 o'clock.

"Let me go or else!" Cuphead shouts, squirming in her rising hand. He fights against her grip. "Let me go!"

In her slitted eyes, the madness says no. The corruption agrees then plots with the snake venom to execute the Cup. Cala Maria is no longer in control. The snakes snicker. She squeezes.

With five tree thick fingers compressing him, he squeals for release. Bending his joints at awkward degrees until his porcelain becomes dusty. If he had his handle still attached, this would surely break it by now. He shouts for help.

"Don't hurt him!" Mugman growls, "You can't be my friend if you hurt him."

Cala flashes, "But he's the reason you're in this whole mess! If he didn't gamble your soul--."

"I forgive Cuphead!" Mugman yells, puffing his cheeks out, "He's my brother and I love him and we're gonna fix everything in the end! That's a promise!"

Cala Maria waits for a better explanation.

"I forgive him just like I forgive you for almost drowning me!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"I don't remember you forgiving me."

"That's because your a snake-person and a little crazy right now."

For moments, nothing happens.

She rubs her head; the veins in her arm melt back into place. "But he hurt you badly by gambling your... You forgive him e-even after he gave your soul...?"

"Yes! I know him and I know we'll fix it together!"

"But..."

"And I forgive you and him for attacking each other. It's not okay to fight with friends."

Cala Maria still grips Cuphead, not caring whether she breaks him or not, but swallows the forgiveness. For herself and this malicious cup. Forgiveness seems forgotten until Mug reminded her. She lowers her hand, lets Mug step on, and brings him up in a soft palm. The fire is put out.

"You seem older than your age, my golden goblet." She says, snakes calming, "I knew you weren't like the other land-dwellers."

"C-could you let Cuphead go?" He says quickly.

Cala Maria obliges and puts the Cup down on the shell garden. Cup gulps air, but wobbles up to face her. Eyes still remorsing her.

"Does this mean we'll stop fighting and we can visit each other sometime?" Mugman asks.

"You'll have to," The Mermaid says, playing with her curling snakes, "I'm not letting you go just yet. We still need to play beached-water polo."

"I don't think so," Cuphead coughs, "You hafta let Mugs go. That's my brother you got."

Cala Maria ignores, carelessly letting a finger invade Mugman, who clenches through sudden giggles. It Entertains her. She ignores the other until she comes up with an argument.

She says, "How do I know you won't just leave and then attack me again? Or if I do give my contract, you'll just give it to the devil after all?"

"Did you not hear Mugs--."

Mugman continues to suffer through a laughing fit, while she narrows her snake eyes. "I didn't say I don't trust him. It's you."

Cup frowns, "This is ridiculous--."

"It's either Mugman or the contract, then we'll switch later, alright? It's only fair."

"No way, but even if I agree," Cuphead straightens up his spine, puffing his chest out, "how do I know you'll even keep your word? You did say we'd fight fairly, but NO! You turned into an ugly cuss and didn't even fight right!"

Mug has stale giggles after her attack, but she cups her hands together and close the noise. "One or the other, dirty dish."

Cuphead tightens his chops, "I get the feelin'..." He couldn't finish the thought, "No way, no deal."

Mugman starts to yell questions from her hands, but no one hears through the heating glares. While Cup bolts off towards Henry, the eels wait for Cala's cue to attack again.

"Henry, we gotta leave. NOW." He yells, parrying him, or in other words, slapping him clean across the face.

The Hawk bolts up, "Whazhappenin'?!"

He climbs on his back, "We need to get Mugs and go--." Henry forgets about his leg as Cala Maria sticks her tongue at them.

Even after everything was said, after the truth, the cave turns back into the battlegrounds from the beginning. Eels attack. Cuphead fires. Henry swipes, except he cradles his foot with his underbelly, and Cala backs away with cupped hands. But unlike the first clash, Mugman has a little power.

"Wait, what are you--?" Cala smiles and feels small hands tickle her palms and between her fingers. "Oh no, I asked for that-- Stop that!"

The Mug can't help but laugh too, but he knows how he must leave for the sake of his brother, the devil's deal, and Cala's chance to revert back to normal. He continues to tickle. He shoves his fists through cracks in her fingers to find a way out. Nose poking out every now and then.

"Yeah, yeah, you do that!" Cuphead yells and sees the golden ticket. "Keep doin' that--and, Henry, let's find a way 'n' free 'im."

Cup holds the eels off; the Hawk juices a plan together. He swipes at more eels, circling around to scope out the Mermaid's laughing condition, calculates, yells, then dives.

Henry beats against the volcano's drafts, angling himself to zoom over the Mermaid's hands. He breaks them open and picks up Mug by the handle. (Oh thanks, guys!"). The Mermaid claws after them as they curve up towards the volcano's opening. Sun glaring.

"You bring my Mugsy back!" She demands, snakes ignited with fire, "Bring him back! He's the cutest thing I've ever met!"

Mugman's face blooms red. "R-really?"

The Cup groans, helping him up on Henry's back. "No, brother, I'm pretty sure she's too old for you."

"Oh shush up, it's not like that... But don't worry," Mugman yells down to her, "I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, after you've calmed the heck down." Cup mutters.

They leave the volcano.

\--E--

No one said anything for a while, except for Henry's complaining and groaning about his foot. ("How am I gonna get this tape off?" "I'm pretty sure I don't got hepatitis." "So who's gonna get those crabs for me then?")

The drifting sun garnishes the ocean, reflecting orange ribbons across the water. They have time for a few more contracts to collect. Time is small but doable. Yet Mugman is the first to say the final question, the final loose end.

"What'll we do about her contract, Cuppy?"

He shrugs and massages his black eye. "We'll think of somethin' later, 'kay? I'm done with fishes for now."

"Alrighty, fine by me. I just hope we can borrow it or counterfeit it or something like that."

"Yeah, sure."

For now they shed off pulses in their feet, porcelain chips on their shirts, the ringing in their ears, and the sleepy dust from their eyes. It's been a long day, but Cuphead finds something to grin about.

"You got lucky, Mugs." He says, "I heard if you kiss a mermaid, then you'd hafta marry her."

"What? Really?"

 **\--E--**

 **Have a golly good day! (The sign off is a work in progress)**

 **(PS did you get that last reference? Comment if you do!)**


	11. Aftermath

**Hello! How are you? (perhaps this can be a signature :D)** **Make sure to keep track of my profile because I will be posting one shots of Cuphead and other things. Do you like Mario bros? Perhaps Undertale?** **Enjoy this short!**

 **\--E--**

She wipes the last of the blood from her cheek.

It's been long enough for the Mermaid to fume to herself, send her eels away, and slowly reverts back into herself. Snakes, slitted eyes, green complexion no longer there. She's alone. With nothing else to do, other than soak in the silence, she puts her reef back together. Starting with the shell garden.

It's a mess. The sand has burnt spots, shells broken and out of order, kelp garden gnarled. She looks at the forgotten treasure chest and pile of clams, and sighs a thousand pounds. She gets back to work.

Cala Maria finishes replacing burnt sand for white sand before she moves onto her sand dollar stacks. While doing so, incoming seagulls and albatrosses break the silence. Not her preference of company, but better than dwelling alone.

She remembers what Mugman said about seeing her later. It does give her hope to see a friend again, but the way the fiasco ended leaves a bad taste in her mouth, like the time she tried sea cucumber for the first time. She asks herself, when will they see each other again? Will they come bad to reep her contract? But, more importantly, will the brothers escape the devil's deal?

She sighs.

Sighs again, expect a pelican sighs back. This pelican is Paul. He waddles around the reef, snatching loose hermit crabs, dragging along an olive bottle tied to his leg.

"Hello," She says with gray in her voice, "what d'you have there, sky-dweller?"

Paul squacks with a deep throat.

Gingerly, the Mermaid retrieves the bottle, forgetting about the reef mess. This is more interesting. She removes the cork, pats out the message, and frowns. It's too small to read and she may rip it if she tries.

But curiosity is better than cleaning, she thinks.

Paul waddles off while Cala searches the surviving pirate ships for a tool. But first she fixes the row of ships she toppled earlier. How did she get that carried away? It sometimes happens, getting carried away, but not this terribly.

She returns with a spyglass. Looking through it backwards, it grows the writing from a font nine into a twenty-six. Now she reads.

 _D **e** er Cupheed,_ _I ha **v** e b **e** en kidnapped, **b** ut don't worry, I' **m** s **a** fe and sound. Cala Maria is **super** nice! She taught **me** to swim, she give **d** me clams, **a** nd she ta **l** ks a lot about thi **n** gs s **h** e likes. You w **o** uld like **h** er if y **o** u gotten to k **n** ow **h** er like me An **yw** ay, I'm fin **e** and I hope you are. **N** o need for a fight. I ca **n** 't thiink **of** anything el **s** e._

 _PS, don't **take** her contr **a** ct, she's goo **d**._ _**P** PS, **l'** m in a vo **lc** ano thin **g** y._

After putting the paper in her personal treasure chest, she sharpened her skills at beached water-polo.


	12. (2) Aftermath

**Hello! How are you?**

 **\--E--**

Once hermit crab collecting was done and done, Mugman dusts off sand, washes off crab bits with a hose, and waves Henry and his family off. He makes his way out of the apartment complex and towards the city's theater. He and Cuphead decided to use as a meeting spot.

The Mug forgets that nothing is in his head, and tries to sip it. If only he had some milk, or better yet tea. Steaming raspberry tea would be heaven after this day. The sun melts away, bringing in soundless chills against his neck. Anything warm is welcomed.

Eventually, the Cup shows up.

"Cuphead! Where were ya?"

"Sorry, had to get some stuff." He says, wiping his mouth, pulling out a metal box and a scroll. "I got some muffin from down the street--."

"Hey, where'd that contract come from?"

Cuphead dismisses it into his pocket, putting it with the other contracts and taking out a poppy seed muffin. "I went to see Cala Maria, I had to talk to her," He starts, "And she just gave it to me."

Mugman hesitates to take a muffin. "Really? Just like that?"

"I know! I was surprised too..." Cup lools away.

The muffins are beyond stale, like they've been petrified into fossils, but the boys are hungry enough to eat it all. It cements in their mouths.

"Dih yoo geh 'hese fo' fwee?"

Cuphead throws his wrapper away before they head into the theater for Sally Stageplay. "I hap no 'oins wefh o'er." He swallows the rock, "But it's still nice of the baker to gimme some."

"Oh, that's nice of 'im!"

They escape into the lobby. Warmth and red carpet greet them, yet no soul meets them as the crowd files into the doors for the show. The doors lock. The ticket booth shuts down, with whoever's in it reading Agatha Christie, ignoring the Cups as they break into an air vent.

"We're almost done with this, Mugs." Cuphead says aloud, blasting the philip screws, "Then we'll show that King Dice and Devil!"

"Yeah," Mugman is thinking of the end with hope, "we'll be off the hook and relax in no time."

"...Again, sorry for dealin' our souls."

"I forgive you already! Just never do it again!"

"...How about that time we got in trouble for scarin' the Bee Queen?'

Mugman frowns, "Never."

"But that wasn't as bad as almost drowned!"

"I made a friend though!"

They crawl through the vent system, navigating for the stage. Bickering, but stop as they reach directly over the stage where a woman performs.

On to the next contract.

 **\--E--**

 **And this concludes this fic! Hope you liked it! Please leave like and reviews to help me out! I'm always on the hunt for feedback, so anything is obliged.** **Have a golly good day!**

 **(PS the last thing I leave with you in thia story... Do you think Cala Maria really handed over her contract?)**


End file.
